According to an article on the Guardian site, very cold weather, with potential blizzards in the UK as far south as the midlands, can be expected over the weekend. In Ireland, it looks set to just be cold, so we’ll likely see more frosts - assuming we’re up that early on weekend mornings!
The UK MET Office released the final autumn forecast yesterday; this essentially covers the period to the end of November. It’s pretty simple: temperatures average or below, rainfall average or below. So dry and cool, and compared to the last few years, a nice change. So much of our winter weather has become “dealing with water”, rather than “dealing with cold” that I’ll be quite happy to see this prediction come true.
London has had its first October snowfall in over 70 years, according to the Guardian, the last one having been in 1934. And I saw my first air-frost in Ireland in three or four years - it was freezing as we got home last night, and there was ice in puddles and frost on hedges when I left again this morning.
The cold snap won’t last much longer, but even after it, temperatures are going to stay relatively low, I think - most days not getting much over 10°C. It’s time to hunt out the layers, hats and gloves. Remember that getting your extremities under cover will keep you a lot warmer!
When did you get your first frost this year? For many parts of Ireland (although, I think, not Dublin city), it was last night. Temperatures had dropped to 3°C last night around 9pm, and even the dodgy greenhouse thermometer on our kitchen window was reading 4°C at some minutes to 7am this morning. There are predictions of colder weather through the week, and some parts of the UK may see sleet or even snow - indeed, there are currently reports coming in of snowfall in Shropshire and the West Midlands. We almost certainly won’t see any near the East Coast of Ireland, even though it’s coming in on Northerly winds; the Northern and Western areas of the country will absorb any that appears.
But it’s very nice to see actual frost!
There are some indications on the weather sites at the moment that next Wednesday or Thursday could see the first frosts in Ireland. These are over the three-day threshold that I’d usually think of as being reliable, but there’s a general indication of a northerly airflow and some clear skies in the latter half of the week. If it happens at all, it’s unlikely to be a sharp frost, but do consider covering sensitive plants. Present indications are that this won’t affect the UK much, if at all, but keep an eye on it.
It’s the end of August. People in the UK and Ireland are getting ready to stop complaining about the muggy heat and unseasonal rain, and start complaining about the cold, the dark, and the unseasonal rain. As usual, I’ve hibernated my way through what there was of the summer, and am looking forward to winter.
And to get us started, there’s an autumn/early winter weather prediction up on netweather.tv, and another from the UK MET Office. The summary for September through to December is only very slightly off average - a little cooler than normal through autumn, a little warmer than normal in December, and with rainfall mostly a little lower throughout. That varies a bit depending on which part of the map you’re looking at, but it looks like there’s nothing too remarkable ahead.
Of course, after the wet summer, the ground is still saturated in many places, which can lead to winter flooding - there’s no chance for the soil to absorb rainwater because it’s already at capacity, and the water runs off. The UK and Ireland are finally learning to deal with flooding, though, so hopefully we won’t see the flood management debacles of the last few years.
It’s also worth noting that the last two winters have not been average; they’ve been very mild! So it may be colder than we’ve been used to.
I’ll keep you posted on winter weather predictions, and provide some up-to-date information on dealing with floods, colder weather, and rising energy costs over the coming weeks and months.
Wintry weather is sweeping across the northern parts of the UK today, with the “arctic pipeline” bringing down cold air, wintry showers, and most of all, cold wind.
The BBC have a headline of “Storms set to get worse across UK“, with blizzards forecast for Scotland. The AA say “Where possible, motorists should postpone car journeys until the weather clears, but those who do need to be out on the roads may find they need to cope with weather related hazards.” The MET Office has issued warnings of “Blizzards, Drifting Snow & Heavy Snow”.
There are pictures up of yesterday’s storm conditions, some of which look rather nasty.
All ferry sailings on the Stena line between Belfast and Stranraer have been cancelled until further notice, and the P&O services are also called off.
Be careful out there!
Bob Vila has provided an excellent bi-annual checklist to be carried out on housing in autumn and spring. It deals more with detached housing than semi-detached or terraced housing, but it’s a good basis to develop your own checklist from. It’s also one that’s worth looking at even if you’re renting, as you may need to let your landlord know in advance of potential problems.
Well, first snowfall for most parts - I know there’s been snow in Scotland earlier in the year. But for most parts of the UK, last night’s flurries of snow were the first of the year. The BBC have some coverage (no pun intended), starting with pictures of snow from the public.
However, in illustration of how badly we deal with snow in these islands, there was a 3-vehicle crash due to snow near Tamworth, and there were power cuts in Shropshire and Powys. There has been as much as the four inches in place, but it’s expected to melt during the day, and power should soon be restored to affected areas.
We had no snow in Dublin, just rain and cold winds.
Over on the Fire and Light page, I recommend wood fires. A recent visitor to this site asked if wood burning is not bad for the environment, and I went to do some research on it. The answer is essentially that wood burning is not environmentally unfriendly, although there are some aspects of it you should consider.
Burning wood releases the carbon that is “stored” or “sequestered” in the timber. This contributes to the presence of CO2 in the atmosphere, which was originally “drawn down” by the growing tree. However, this carbon would have been released in the near future in any case, as the tree dies, rots, and decays in the normal manner, and it’s drawn down again by new trees growing where the old one was.
Because of that, it’s important to make sure that your wood for burning is coming from businesses that support sustainable forestry, which plant trees to replace the ones that are cut. Generally, this is a sensible use of land in the first place, so it’s not hard to find. Firewood is also often a side product of wood cut for lumber, and it makes sense to make use of it for fuel.
Something to watch out for is the amount of smoke. While wood does not give off as much smoke as coal, it can contribute in a small way to urban smog. On foggy or still days, wood smoke may hang in the air. Otherwise, it produces far less smoke, and less acidic smoke, than coal or other “smoky” fuels.
So: wood burning is environmentally sound, as long as it’s from sustainable forestry.